Protests follow Claire Perry’s claim that mollycoddling parents seriously harm their children’s lives

Claire Perry hit the headlines again today (Sunday) after she criticised mollycoddling parents in a major newspaper interview for filling children’s lives with too many organised activities.

UK children are being “babied” by overly-intrusive parents, leaving them unable to cope as they grow up, claimed the Tory MP for Devizes, who is a special adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron the commercialisation and sexualisation of children.

Mrs Perry, mother of three, said the over-parenting was stifling children’s ability to fend for themselves, adding: “We’ve created a treadmill, it’s usually the mother that is orchestrating all of that and doing all the driving.”

“We worship this feminine motherhood thing and I don’t think our children have benefited actually.  They’re babied a lot.”

 She also hit out at parents were failing to lay down the law and set “limits”, she said.

But Mrs Perry, who chaired an inquiry of cross-party MPs into the effects of TV and the internet on children, was herself criticised and told to focus on improving schools, child care facilities and policies to find jobs for teenagers.

Mrs Perry, who is the PM’s adviser on the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, said over-parenting was stifling children’s ability to fend for themselves.

She explained that mothers often became part of the problem because their own work-life balance struggled when starting a family.

“A lot of it is women who, because it is difficult to get on, subjugate their own ambition into their kids,” she insisted.  “That makes it harder when they get to university and realise they haven’t got a mother to help them with their homework, watching their every move.  We’ve all done it.”

Mrs Perry revealed that she once tended to “hover” over her children, pointing out: “Now, I just can’t, so I don’t, and I think they’re probably better off as a result.”

At the same time, 48-year-old Mrs Perry warned that children were not being taught about the real dangers in life, especially the internet – she has campaigned for TV service providers to to enable parents to block pornography from their bedroom TV screens – pointing out that most parents were either too busy or ignorant about what their children were doing online.

“Good parenting isn’t just about making sure they come top in maths, but all the difficult stuff too,” she declared.  “If they don’t learn the limits from us, who will tell them?  They are living in a digital oblivion,” she protested.

But Mrs Perry’s were immediately challenged.

Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts insisted parents were “doing their best” and were “knackered most of the time”.

She told BBC News: “Mothers are, sadly, used to copping a lot of blame — but being charged with being over-protective, cupcake-baking helicopter parents at the same time as being feckless, couch potatoes who let their children have unfettered internet access is a bit rich.”

As to “treadmill” children, Mrs Roberts added: “Of course there are some ‘tiger mum’ types who are micro-managing packed improvement schedules for their children.”

“But on Mumsnet certainly, they are far outweighed by others who share Clare Perry’s view that unstructured time is really important.”

Ms Roberts also protested: “Politicians could more usefully perhaps focus on improving local schools, job prospects, childcare options and flexible work solutions than telling us how to be better parents.”

Children psychologist Dr Jack Boyle said: “Politicians shouldn’t feel the necessity to give parents lectures when there is no evidence whatsoever to back up what they are claiming.”

“This is simply a broad, sweeping assertion without justification for making it.  If she wrote a university essay to this effect, she would be failed.”

“Most young people are robust enough to meet the challenges of life at home, at school and in the community.”

Labour MP Frank Field, who advised the coalition government on children’s foundation years, also criticised Mrs Perry’s comments as “amazing”.

He highlighted the “desperate” situation for many disadvantaged children in the UK, urging the Mrs Perry “not to attack those parents investing heavily in their children, but to find out why the vast majority of young people want to be good parents and yet a very, very, very substantial group of them fail to do so”.